News picks
Articles from other sources; copy title, first paragraph, and put URL in body of post.
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From what I can see looking in from the outside what is going on is the major targets of patent trolls are sick and tired of getting sued by Niro and the other attorneys out there that represent those with patents that are perhaps of questionable integrity, but they really do not seem to have a plan on dealing with the so-called patent troll problem in any meaningful way. How is spending tens of millions of dollars a month in attorneys fees and settlements a strategy for fending off patent trolls? I suppose if you wish to identify a losing strategy then it could be called a strategy, but does a pinata really have a strategy? Up until the recent success of the Red Sox I always thought it strange to say that the Yankees and the Red Sox had a rivalry. The hammer and the nail do not make a rivalry any more than tech giants and patent trolls. Patent trolls hold all the cards, there is no down side to being a patent troll, so unless and until the tech giants stand up and start fighting
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by: 28 Dec 2008 10:07 |
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Large multinational software companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Google, rarely - if ever - initiate patent infringement lawsuits against other software companies, probably because they themselves infringe on lots of patents too. However, they do get sued themselves by smaller companies. Even though the Christian part of the world is all about forgiveness and love and pink ponies during the holidays (or, at least, they ought to be), Apple, Google, and Microsoft have been struck by a patent infringement lawsuit started by Cygnus Systems. [...] What is getting ridiculous? The fact that all these "trolls" are appearing, or the fact that this does not look like a troll at all and still is (I think misleadingly) referred to as a troll? Look e.g. at Patently-O writer, Dennis Crouch, who puts out a working definition of a patent troll. "The patent troll waits for others to independently develop the patented technology into useful products and to create a market for those products."
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by: 28 Dec 2008 10:05 |
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The patent in question is US 7,346,850, called "System and method for iconic software environment management." Its abstract describes "a method and system for storing, navigating, and accessing files within an operating system through the use of a graphical thumbnail representing the video display of the active document within the active application." In other words, Cygnus' patent describes features similar to those of Windows Explorer and Apple's Finder—these applications use scaled-down previews to represent the actual documents being browsed by users. The patent could also include things like file icons that dynamically update to reflect changes to the contents of their respective documents, as well as Opera's "Speed Dial" feature, which offers a visual dashboard of easy-access websites. Cygnus' complaint even cites the iPhone's "accompanying iconic file preview and access functionality" and the Safari browser's tab thumbnails.
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by: 28 Dec 2008 10:02 |
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arstechnica.com — A small networking services company was recently granted a patent covering the use of representational icons in an operating system. What follows next should be no surprise: a lawsuit delivered to Microsoft, Apple, and even Google, just in time for the holidays. [...] Software patents are ridicule, they are like equations, once its in the known nothing can be done to control it.
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by: 28 Dec 2008 10:01 |
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B1: From terabytes to petabytes: exclusions from patentability - 11:00 - 12:15 - In the 1960s, computers filled whole rooms but had less memory space than the mobile phones of today. What advantages and developments can increased memory size support in the future? What can be patented, what is excluded and what should be copyrighted? Are European companies losing out in the marketplace due to our current system? Should the European Union and the European Patent Office adapt to the United States' policy on computer-implemented inventions?
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by: 28 Dec 2008 09:58 |
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Aimed at a broad audience, Wednesday 's programme will start with two opening presentations which will address the conference theme from different points of view. These will be followed by a series of workshops exploring how the IP system supports innovation in some of the key areas of rapidly developing industries. Participants will be able to choose from more than a dozen workshops in one of six streams: * standards * patents for software * knowledge transfer * evolution of the patent system * crossing technical boundaries * ethics
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by: 28 Dec 2008 09:55 |
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IP in rapidly developing industries - does it stimulate innovation? The seemingly unstoppable wave of innovation accompanying the rise of digital technologies and digital design over the last ten years has infiltrated all aspects of modern life, raising the prospect of the need for new economic models and posing challenges to the IP system as we know it. These and many other fascinating issues will feature on the agenda of the European Patent Forum and PATINNOVA 2009. The first of its kind to focus on IP in rapidly developing industries, the conference will bring together applicants, patent attorneys, innovation stakeholders and experts from research and politics. Day one of this unique three-day event will focus on the system's role in the knowledge society, while the second and third days will be dedicated to policy issues and current legal and business practice.
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by: 28 Dec 2008 09:53 |
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The European Patent Office and the European Commission, with the support of the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic, are organising the European Patent Forum and PATINNOVA 2009, to be held in Prague (Czech Republic) on 28th-30th April 2009. The seemingly unstoppable wave of innovation accompanying the rise of digital technologies and digital design over the last ten years has infiltrated all aspects of modern life, raising the prospect of the need for new economic models and posing challenges to the IP system as we know it. These and many other fascinating issues will be on the agenda of the European Patent Forum and PATINNOVA 2009.
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by: 28 Dec 2008 09:52 |
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In five minutes of searching, I found this mention in a book that Windows 98 offered an option to use image thumbnails in Explorer. Cygnus originally filed their patent on June 12, 1998, but Windows 98 was already in beta at that point -- I was testing it at that time -- and by that time Microsoft probably had the feature implemented. And I wonder, where did Microsoft get the idea for the feature? Was it really a totally original idea, or did they have some earlier example they were following? In the end it's likely that this patent won't stand up to scrutiny. By deciding to go after three big and well-funded companies, Cygnus has almost guaranteed nothing but legal fees and empty coffers in this go-round. It's a shame that companies can exploit the patent system to prevent advances in software.
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by: 28 Dec 2008 09:50 |
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A small Indiana company has sued tech heavyweights Microsoft, Apple, and Google, claiming that it holds the patent on a common file preview feature used by browsers and operating systems to show users small snapshots of the files before they are opened. ... Cygnus's owner and president Gregory Swartz developed the technology laid out in the patent while working on IT consulting projects, McAndrews said. The company is looking for 'a reasonable royalty' as well as a court injunction preventing further infringement, he said. ... Cygnus applied for its patent (#7346850) in 2001. It covers a 'System and method for iconic software environment management' and was granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office in March of this year.
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by: 28 Dec 2008 09:47 |
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OIN mailed me, offering the opportunity to do an interview with their CEO. They happily accepted the questions, which were bold enough to dig down into the challenges rather than blindly praise OIN. The interviewees typically do not like this. They prefer ‘promotional’ interviews (Glyn Moody opposes such conformist passivity). Anyway, for future reference, here are those questions that OIN decided it could not address:
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by: 27 Dec 2008 20:28 |
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Believe it or not, this so-called ‘innovation’ was conceived in 2001, or at least filed at this very late stage. [...] There is prior art. Getting a patent and actually selling a products are separate things. The latter is damaged by the former, which benefits society in no way (unless one is a lawyer).
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by: 27 Dec 2008 19:58 |
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A small Indiana company has sued tech heavyweights Microsoft, Apple, and Google, claiming that it holds the patent on a common file preview feature used by browsers and operating systems to show users small snapshots of the files before they are opened.
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by: 25 Dec 2008 22:26 |
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Indiana based Cygnus Systems has filed a lawsuit against the three giants Microsoft, Apple and Google claiming that they are infringing on a patent owned by them. The patent is related to file preview technology which gives the user a view of a file before it is opened. Microsoft uses this technology in products like Windows Vista and Internet Explorer 8. Google uses it in their Chrome web browser. Apple uses it in Mac OS X, Apple iPhone and Safari web browser.
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by: 25 Dec 2008 09:36 |
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Following up on the European Commission's "IPR in ICT Standardisation" workshop two weeks ago in Brussels, FSFE president Georg Greve analysed the conflicts between patents and standards. The resulting paper is about the most harmful effects of patents on standards, the effectiveness of current remedies, and potential future remedies.
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by: 24 Dec 2008 17:27 |
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After this crucial contribution, Cox effectively became Number 2 in the Linux kernel devlopment team. As such, he was a natural candidate for Red Hat when the company started making hackers offers they couldn't refuse. Thanks, in part, to the networking code he had helped to develop, he was able to work from his home in Wales, where he has also become an important voice in UK debates about software patents and ramifications of technology issues for civil liberties.
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by: 24 Dec 2008 10:55 |
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The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) has said that the IPO's guidance could cause uncertainty and increase the cost of doing business in the software industry. Out-Law.com notes that the IPO lost a case at the Court of Appeal earlier this year in which its judgment that software from Symbian should not be awarded a patent was overturned. The judge in the case, Lord Neuberger, did not follow the process set out by the IPO, which was derived from cases involving Aerotel and Neal Macrossan, but the process set out in an earlier judgment, in a case involving Vicom. Many observers saw the ruling as a rejection of the IPO's previous methods of judging software patent claims.
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by: 24 Dec 2008 10:54 |
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Will Bilski Stop "Business Method" Patents In The U.S.? In a much anticipated en banc decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ("CAFC"), the criteria for patentability of "processes" in software, business method and computer-implemented inventions appears to have been altered to favor a newly resurrected "machine-or-transformation test" over the "useful, concrete, and tangible result" analysis that had been relied upon since the release of the famous State Street Bank decision a decade ago. While strictly a U.S. decision, this case will be of great interest for Canadian companies in software, financial and high technology industries seeking patent protection for "business methods" in the U.S.
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by: 24 Dec 2008 10:52 |
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It has invested most of its resources on litigation with software giants. The company originally filed suit in Concord against Oracle in 2002 for patent infringement, but it was thrown out by the U.S. District Court in March 2007. That decision was upheld in the Court of Appeals on May 14. The suit against Skype and eBay -- filed in September 2006 – claims that the companies infringed on Mangosoft’s “dynamic directory service” software. The defendants countered by questioning whether Mangosoft should have received the patent in the first place, citing a number of previous patents which – it alleges – Mangosoft should have cited in its application.
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by: 24 Dec 2008 10:49 |
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We kick off this week with the news from Out-law that the UK IPO has announced it will not be revising its approach on software patents in the light of the findings of the Symbian case. The announcement comes after UK IPO's decision to deny a patent to Symbian was overturned on appeal back in October in a judgment many took to be critical of the UK IPO's approach. The decision has drawn criticism from the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys, who claim the current guidance creates uncertainty for patent applicants.
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by: 22 Dec 2008 16:40 |
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